BackgroundIn Canada, 31.5 % of children are overweight or obese, putting them at an increased risk of chronic co-morbidities and premature mortality. Physical activity, healthy eating, and screen time are important behavioural determinants of childhood overweight and obesity that are influenced by the family environment, and particularly parents’ support behaviours. However, there is currently a limited understanding of which types of these support behaviours have the greatest positive impact on healthy child behaviours. This study aims to determine the relative contribution of different types of parental support behaviours for predicting the likelihood that children meet established guidelines for daily physical activity, daily fruit and vegetable consumption, and recreational screen time.MethodsA Computer Assisted Telephone Interview survey was used to collect data from a random sample of parents or guardians with at least one child under the age of 18 in Ontario (n = 3,206). Three multivariable logistic regression models were built to predict whether or not parents reported their child was meeting guidelines. Independent variables included parent and child age and gender, multiple indicators of parental support behaviours, and socio-demographic characteristics. Parental support behaviours were categorized post-hoc as motivational, instrumental, regulatory, and conditional based on an adapted framework.ResultsControlling for all other factors in the model, several parental support behaviours were found to be significant predictors of children meeting established health guidelines. For example, conditional support behaviours including taking the child to places where they can be active (OR: 2.06; 95 % CI: 1.32-3.21), and eating meals as a family away from the TV (95 % CI: 1.15-2.41) were significant positive predictors of children meeting physical activity and fruit and vegetable guidelines, respectively.ConclusionsHealth promotion efforts aimed at improving particular parent support behaviours could be effective levers for mitigating the burden of excess body weight in childhood. As such, the influence of support behaviours should be fully considered in any comprehensive approach to prevention and reduction of childhood overweight and obesity.

BackgroundSleep is an essential component of healthy cognitive and physical development. Lack of sleep may put children at risk for a variety of mental and physical health outcomes, including overweight, obesity and related chronic diseases. Given that children’s sleep duration has decreased in recent decades, there is a need to understand the determinants of child sleep, including the role of parental support behaviours. This study aims to determine the relative contribution of different types of parental support behaviours for predicting the likelihood that children meet recently established Canadian sleep guidelines.MethodsData were collected using Computer Assisted Telephone Interviews (CATI) of parents or guardians with at least one child under the age of 18 living in Ontario, Canada. To align with sleep guidelines, parents included in this analysis had at least one child between 5 and 17 years of age (n = 1622). Two multivariable logistic regression models were built to predict whether or not parents reported their child was meeting sleep guidelines – one for weekday sleep and another for sleep on weekends. Independent variables included parent and child age and gender, motivational and regulatory parental support behaviours, and socio-demographic characteristics.ResultsOn weekdays, enforcing rules about child bedtime was a significant positive predictor of children meeting sleep guidelines (OR: 1.59; 95% CI: 1.03–2.44); while encouraging the child to go to bed at a specific time was a significant negative predictor of child meeting sleep guidelines (OR: 0.29; 95% CI: 0.13–0.65). On weekends, none of the parental support behaviours contributed significantly to the predictions of child sleep. For both weekdays and weekends, the child’s age group was an important predictor of children meeting sleep guidelines.ConclusionsThe contribution of parental support behaviours to predictions of children meeting sleep guidelines varied with the type of support provided, and weekend versus weekday sleep. While only enforcing bedtime rules on weekdays contributed to children meeting sleep guidelines, the importance of children getting a good night’s sleep, and the capacity of parents to help them do so, should be emphasized in public health efforts promoting healthy child development.

IntroductionThe importance of Indigenous data sovereignty and Indigenous-led research processes is increasingly being recognized in Canada and internationally. For First Nations in Ontario, Canada, access to routinely-collected demographic and health systems data is critical to planning and measuring health status and outcomes in their populations. Linkage of this data with the Indian Register (IR), under First Nations data governance, has unlocked data for use by First Nations organizations and communities.

Indigenous data governance principles assert that Indigenous communities have a right to data that identifies their people or communities, and a right to determine the use of that data in ways that support Indigenous health and self-determination. Indigenous-driven use of the databases held at the Institute for Clinical Evaluative Sciences (ICES) has resulted in ongoing partnerships between ICES and diverse Indigenous organizations and communities. To respond to this emerging and complex landscape, ICES has established a team whose goal is to support the infrastructure for responding to community-initiated research priorities. ICES works closely with Indigenous partners to develop unique data governance agreements and supports processes, which ensure that ICES scientists must work with Indigenous organizations when conducting research that involves Indigenous peoples.

Concussion has been a topic of interest recently, new research and guidelines are emerging around the world. In Ontario, the number of Emergency Department (ED) visits for concussion is rising, but little is known about the association between concussion and socio-economic status. The objective of this study was to examine the association between socio-economic status and ED visits for concussions in Ontario, Canada.This is a longitudinal population-based study using routinely-collected administrative data from the Institute for Clinical Evaluative Sciences. Data from all Emergency Department visits and hospitalizations are included. For the purposes of this study, all injuries coded using the ICD-10 CA code associated with concussion (S060) were included. The denominator used for this study was the number of children residing in Ontario in each age group. The rate per 1 00 000 children was calculated from 2008 to 2015.There were 5889 concussions reported at an emergency department in 2008, and 14 906 in 2015. The rate among the lowest socioeconomic class quintile was 5.23 per 1 00 000 person years in 2008, and 7.12 for the highest socioeconomic class quintile. By comparison, the lowest and highest quintiles recorded 8.64 and 11.07 respectively in 2015. The rates of concussions among all socioeconomic quintiles were either stable or increasing.The results of this study suggest that rates of concussions are increasing among children. However, children in a higher income quintile consistently visited EDs for concussion more than children from lower income quintiles. This may be due to the increased opportunity wealthier children have to engage in organized sports. These results suggest that further policies related to awareness and identification of concussion need to be considered for all children.